


Just Us, You and Me

by pohjanneito



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Coming Out, First Kiss, M/M, The Hammock (IT)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:01:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22638880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pohjanneito/pseuds/pohjanneito
Summary: “So, you know how the Spring Ball is coming up?”“Duh, of course I know.” It was the only thing people at school had been talking about for weeks. Eddie thought it was stupid, the way everyone, including Bill, had lost their minds over what to wear and who they were gonna ask to slow dance with them. “What about it?”or: Richie asks Eddie to go to the school dance with him, Eddie misunderstands the question.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 14
Kudos: 332





	Just Us, You and Me

**Author's Note:**

> A little something I wrote on a whim, inspired by the scene in season 1 of Stranger Things where Mike is trying to tell Eleven he wants to take her to the school dance.

The full spread of Wolverine duking it out with Sabertooth kept bouncing in front of Eddie’s eyes, and he fixed his grip on his comic for the third time since he’d turned the page.

“Come on, Richie, quit it.”

“Quit what? I’m not doing anything.”

Eddie glared at Richie over the comic and dug his toes into his thigh under the quilt they were sharing.

“Yeah, you are! You’re making the whole hammock shake with your stupid fidgeting!”

“Get off, then," Richie muttered, shoving his foot against Eddie’s fanny pack.

“No way! Your ten minutes are up and it’s _my_ turn, so you get off.”

Richie lowered his comic and grabbed hold of Eddie's wrist, tapping his nail against his digital watch. “We’ve been sitting here for forty minutes, four times ten is forty, and I called first dibs, so technically, it’s my turn again.”

Eddie stared at Richie, his jaw slack. Math had never been his strongest subject. "Whatever." He yanked his hand back and sank a little lower to hide behind his comic.

They went back to their reading and Eddie got to enjoy two whole pages before the hammock was shaking again. “Jesus Christ...” He reached under the quilt to wrap his fingers around Richie’s knee until his leg went still. And maybe he _should_ get out of the stupid hammock if he wanted to finish his comic before he had to be home for dinner.

“Hey, Eds?” Richie pushed his glasses up his nose, sounding all weird and squeaky. Eddie wondered if he was trying on a new Voice, or if it was that funny thing that'd been happening ever since Richie's actual voice dropped three weeks into their freshman year. He didn’t lift his eyes from the comic, but he arched his brows to let Richie know he was listening.

“So, you know how the Spring Ball is coming up?”

“Duh, of course I know.” It was the only thing people at school had been talking about for weeks. Eddie thought it was stupid, the way everyone, including Bill, had lost their minds over what to wear and who they were gonna ask to slow dance with them. “What about it?”

Richie wrung his hands, his gaze darting around the clubhouse like a pinball. “Well, I was thinking maybe we could go? To the dance, I mean.”

Eddie frowned, lowering his comic. “Yeah, of course we’re gonna go, just like last year. You, me, and the rest of the Losers.”

The freckles on Richie’s face shifted as he wrinkled his nose. He looked frustrated, squeezing the quilt with a white-knuckled grip.

“No, I mean- Shit, I mean go, like, together?” Richie stumbled through the words, and Eddie realized he hadn’t been doing a Voice.

Richie was nervous.

Eddie shook his head, still not sure what Richie was getting at. “Yeah, Richie, we’ll go, okay? You, me, Bill, Stan and-”

“No, Eddie, come on, that’s not what I meant,” Richie groaned, sending the hammock into an uneven swing as he slumped back against the fraying fabric.

“Then how _do_ you mean it?” Eddie asked, feeling like they’d slipped on completely different wavelengths.

Richie squeezed his eyes shut, his face turning a weird shade of red. Eddie wondered if he was having a stroke just as Richie sat up and reached out to grab hold of Eddie’s shoulders.

“I mean like _this_.”

Eddie blinked as Richie yanked him closer, a shocked little squeak escaping his lungs when he felt a pair of chapped lips press against his own. The angle was all wrong and Richie’s glasses dug into Eddie’s cheek so hard that his left eye began to water a little, but they were definitely on the same wavelength now.

Richie pulled back just as Eddie’s brain was beginning to process the fact that he was being kissed. By a boy. No, not just by a boy, by Richie. _Holy fuck_.

"Oh. Like that." It was all Eddie could get out as he stared at Richie, his head full of static.

"Yeah… Like that." Richie wound his arms around himself, and Eddie was pretty sure he hadn’t looked so terrified since the fucking Clown. “I mean, it's just a stupid dance. It’s totally cool if you don’t wanna go, and we can just forget this whole thing happened and-and-and-” He blew out a frustrated breath that made a lock of his hair point straight at the roof. “Jesus, since when do I sound like Bill?”

Eddie let out a nervous laugh at that. He reached into his fanny pack and took a hit from his inhaler, well aware that it was bullshit, but it still helped whenever he felt like his lungs were about to shrivel in his chest.

The hammock was bouncing again, Richie’s left foot twitching in a nervous rhythm as he watched Eddie through his smudged lenses. "Shit. Forget I asked, okay? And I'm sorry about the kiss, I don't know what the hell I was thinking."

"Richie-"

"It's fine if you don't wanna be around me anymore, I totally get it."

"Richie-"

"Just, please, don't hate me, Eds. I-I don't think I could live with myself if you hated me."

Eddie rolled his eyes and reached up to cup Richie's cheeks, giving them a gentle squeeze. "Will you shut up and let me speak, dumbass?" Eddie laughed, no real heat in his voice.

Richie nodded, staring at Eddie like a stunned goldfish.

"First of all, I could never hate you."

"You couldn't?" Richie asked, his voice uncharacteristically small.

"Of course not! I mean, yeah, you annoy the shit out of me on a daily basis, but you're my best friend, Rich. Nothing's ever gonna change that."

Richie sucked his bottom lip between his teeth, his overbite, which Eddie had always found absurdly cute, on full display. "Just friends, huh?" he asked, unable to mask his disappointment.

Eddie dropped his gaze to his lap. He knew they couldn’t actually go to the ball together, not the way Richie wanted, like a _couple,_ with the slow dancing and the hand holding. Bowers wasn’t around anymore, but Derry had no shortage of bullies who’d make the rest of their time in high school a living hell if they were found out.

Eddie reached up to set Richie's glasses straight on his nose and cupped his cheek, his eyes apologetic. “Richie, you know I can’t go with you, not like that.”

Richie’s throat clicked as he swallowed, a muscle in his cheek twitching against Eddie’s palm. “Yeah, it’s- it's fine. Just forget I asked, okay?’” He tried to pull away, but Eddie took a gentle hold of Richie’s hair to keep him still.

There was a faint tremble in Richie’s lips when Eddie pressed his mouth against them, like he was trying his hardest not to cry. The kiss was just as awkward as before, but it sent Eddie's heart into a mad race under his ribs, and he felt something in him come alive for the first time. It was almost like the moment he realized his Mommy had been lying to him about his medicine and his illnesses, only, this time, it made him feel good. No, better than good. Fucking ecstatic.

He let go of Richie’s hair and brushed his fingers against his jaw. “You know what? Screw the dance. We should just hang out and do something else.”

Richie blinked at him, his eyes huge behind his glasses. The corner of his mouth pulled up in a bewildered little smile. “Just us?”

“Yeah, just us, Richie, you and me.”


End file.
